She’s standing at the edge of the garage, knowing she can’t come in. Her long black hair lifts in the gentle wind. The only word to describe her is stunning. Even in in her baggy band t-shirt, tied up in a knot on one side, skinny jeans, and Converse, she takes my breath away. I don’t know how I got so lucky, but I’m not going to do anything to screw it up.
“Hey, what are you doing here?” I duck out from under the truck I’m working on, and walk toward her. Toward my everything.
She plays with the ends of her hair. She’s absolutely adorable when she’s nervous. This is the first time she’s ever came to my job without me asking her here. “Do you want to come to the house tonight and hang out with us?”
“Yes,” I pull her into my arms and kiss her softly. “I want to be wherever you are. I’ve missed you.”
I feel her relax into my body. “What’s the matter?”
“Nothing,” she answers. Taking a deep breath, she leans back. “Well, not exactly nothing. But it can be fixed.”
“Is it something with your dress?” I know her and the girls went to a fitting last night. After her last one, this one surely couldn’t have been that bad. But the way her body is wound so tightly, I know something is bothering her.
“No,” she smiles. “My dress is fine. It’s everyone else’s dress that is crap.” She pulls back from me completely. “They aren’t even the right freaking color.”
“Is it fixable?”
“It is, but we’ll get them at the very last possible minute.” She kicks a rock that’s made its way onto the sidewalk. “I mean how hard is it to get the dress in the correct color. Hell, at this point I’d be happy with the girls wearing a little black dress. I know it’s not traditional wedding attire, but trying to get these dresses out for everyone is exhausting.”
“Is there anything I can do to help?” I hate that she’s putting on this stress on herself without asking for help from anyone.
“Not really,” she sighs. “Now it’s just a waiting game and hoping they have the dresses in time. Maybe the girls and I can figure out some sort of backup just in case.”
I smile even though it irks me that she isn’t asking me to help her. I don’t know the first thing about dresses or decorating, but I catch on to things pretty quickly. She keeps treating me like she can’t lean on me when it matters. Maybe we should have eloped when she jokingly suggested it. She definitely wouldn’t be as stressed as she is right now.
“Is the dress shop at least giving everyone a discount for getting the order completely wrong?”
“Yep. That’s the silver lining to it. They are even throwing in Layla’s dress for free.”
The grin that sweeps over her face has me melting. At least that one less thing she has to worry about. Anything that makes her happy, makes me happy. “That’s great.”
I pull her closer to me, breathing her in. She smells like those soaps from that bath store, and coconut shampoo. I could stay like this forever.
“Reaf,” my boss calls out from the garage. “You need to finish up this truck so we can get another car on the lift.”
“I guess that’s my signal to let you get back to work,” Tonya mumbles into my chest.
“Yeah, I guess.” My shoulders slump at the thought of her leaving, but I can’t ask her to wait until I can clock out. She would be bored of out her mind, and I wouldn’t be able to concentrate. Besides her friends are up from out of town, and they need some time together. Especially since she rarely gets to see them other than holidays.
“You’ll get to see me tonight,” Tonya whispers. “Go back to work and I’ll go entertain my friends for a few more hours.” She leans toward me as if to tell me a secret. “I love you, and I can’t wait to call you my husband.”
“I love you, too.” I grin. “Now, get out of here so I can get back to work.” I playfully swat at her ass, but miss by mere centimeters.
Walking back into the garage, I can’t help but feel giddy. She came to the shop to see me for something that could have been handled over a text message. That action has quelled my nerves about her missing me. I think we’ll always have an opportunity to miss each other. Especially while we’re both in school and the classes pull us in so many directions.
I don’t let any of the shop shenanigans get in my way. I’m chipper, whistling while I work through oil change after oil change.
* * *
Cars line the road when I get to Tonya’s house. This get together isn’t as small as she planned. Unless…those cars are here for another house. But I recognize a few cars that I’ve seen here before.
There are a lot of voices that can be heard from where I stand on the porch. Are they having a block party? I knock, but nobody answers. They probably can’t hear me. Instead of waiting around, I push the door open and walk inside.
The room is bursting with people. Family members that I met at the Burgess’s New Year’s celebration, and a quite a few that I don’t recognize. The wedding is a week away, why is everyone here now?
“Reaf,” Jason calls out from the crowd. “I was wondering when you were going to show up.”
“Hello, sir.” I glance around the room. “Did I miss a memo about a party, or something?” Surely something of this magnitude would have been mentioned before I got here. Tonya has been very detailed about the wedding planning. This isn’t something that would have slipped her mind.